Ben Hamnett Wins WPT Borgata For $820k
September 23, 2012 11:27 amBen Hamnett has won the WPT Borgata Poker Open, after defeating a field of 1,181 players over five days on his way to capturing the prestigious title, as well as the $818,847 first place prize. Following his impressive victory in Atlantic City, the Pennsylvania-based pro commented:
“I’m glad I played my best. That’s the most I could hope for. I’m glad I got lucky, and I’m glad it all worked out. There were a few places where I blinked. Maybe I backed off when I didn’t need to, but everything worked out and I feel like I did everything as best I could.”
Amongst the notable names cashing in at the $3,500 buy-in tournament but falling short of the final table was
Dwyte Pilgrim in 109th ($7,070), David Pham in 79th ($8,085), Tony Dunst in 64th ($8,762), Allen Cunningham in 41st ($12,785), Todd Terry in 22nd ($16,922), Vinny Pahuja in 16th ($20,118) and Matt Brady in 7th ($131,613).
By the time the final table of six had been reached, Matthew Burnitz was in pole position, followed by David Diaz, Steve Brecher and Tyler Patterson, with Ben Hamnett and Ofir Mor lying in 5th and 6th spot respectively.
First out was David Diaz (A-9) in 6th ($167,337), after calling Steve Brecher’s (K-8) battle of the blind all-in shove. However, Brecher’s celebrations were short lived as he was next to fall in 5th ($206,821), after being dealt T-9 and raising all-in on a 9d-8c-7d flop, only to be up against Ben Hamnett (Kd-10d), who then made his flush.
A short-stacked Ofir Mor was then all-in and lost in a four-way pot against Patterson’s nut-flush, to exit in 4th ($250,065) and after Hamnett (A-4) got lucky against Tyler Patterson, who shoved preflop with A-6 to depart in 3rd ($298,950), the heads-up phase of the competition got underway.
At this stage, Ben Hamnett held a 2 to 1 chip advantage over Matthew Burnitz and after over an hour of play the final hand was played when Ben Hamnett (K-Q) raised all-in and was called by his opponent with Jh-10h. The board subsequently rolled out Qd-8c-2d-3d-5c to relegate Matthew Burnitz to a runner-up finish worth $488,850, while Ben Hamnett was crowned the 2012 WPT Borgata champion.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1st: Ben Hamnett – $818,847
2nd: Matthew Burnitz – $488,850
3rd: Tyler Patterson – $298,950
4th: Ofir Mor – $250,065
5th: Steve Brecher – $206,821
6th: David Diaz – $167,337